Community Services Goes Green

September 29, 2022

Community Services, consisting of the City’s Facilities, Civic Properties, Recreation, Aquatics and Arts & Culture teams, has embarked on several projects this year to go green. These projects enable the City to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs, such as utilities, chemicals, water consumption, and electricity. Successful grant applications helped to offset many of these projects.

These projects include upgrades to the North Peace Arena lighting and heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) systems funded by a grant of over $850,000 from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program. That allowed for replacing three make-up air units, five rooftop exhaust fans, and interior energy-efficient lighting improvements. Further, a grant of almost $350,000 from CleanBC and BC Hydro allowed for dehumidifier modifications, heat pump and desuperheater installations, and compressor power reductions at the Pomeroy Sport Centre, allowing for more efficient ice plant and building HVAC operations.

Additionally, two new level 2 electric vehicle charging stations have been added to the Recreation Campus using approved grants and bulk purchasing with Charge North, one at the Festival Plaza and the other at the Pomeroy Sport Centre. Finally, the City purchased a new electric Olympia ice resurfacer, projected to save over $60,000 over the lifetime due to lower fuel and maintenance costs. This ice resurfacer includes a laser ice-levelling system to ensure the best ice quality for our residents and athletes.

The City of Fort St. John is a signatory to the BC Climate Action Charter, a voluntary agreement between the BC Government, Union of BC Municipalities and the City to act on climate change. This includes carbon neutrality in corporate operations, measuring and reporting on our greenhouse gas emissions, and creating more energy-efficient communities. These actions are supported by the CleanBC Local Government Climate Action Program funding provided by the BC Government for local climate projects.

These projects are expected to provide the following savings:

- 575,096 kilowatt-hours per year (the equivalent of 79 home’s electricity use for one year)
- 12,871 gigajoules per year
- 632 tonnes of CO2 (the equivalent to 123 home’s electricity use for one year)
- $66,158 direct cost savings per year

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